The aspirant's first meeting with the Pillar of Severity appears to be within the Zelator grade.

What do the Zelator's rituals and work do to the aspirant and his relationship to his Ruach and Nephesh? If we take the approach to Hod as being the first connection to pure transcendental spiritual Briatic consciousness then would I be correct in saying that there would be a general severe stirring up of the Ruach and it's attachments to the five-sensory bound Nephesh (see path of Shin connecting Guph/Assiah to Hod (pure mind))?

With regards to the path of Resh, is there also therefore a challenge or an attempt to purify and transmute the Ruach which up until then is stuck in or attached to Yetzirah i.e. it's own subconscious i.e the reactive Yesodic Nephesh?

In other worlds this is the first realization that we are in effect transcendental to the outer world as we exist in the realm of the pure and infinite? This is the Sat Chit Ananda of Hinduism i.e. joy, knowledge and eternality?

Last edited by gerry456 on Sat Jan 14, 2017 12:59 pm, edited 3 times in total.

2.19 They shall rejoice, our chosen: who sorroweth is not of us.

2.21 We have nothing with the outcast and the unfit: let them die in their misery. For they feel not. Compassion is the vice of kings: stamp down the wretched & the weak: this is the law of the strong: this is our law and the joy of the world.

In effect then, with that said, the Zelator undergoes a mini Trance of Sorrow? That is, he, in his transcendence goes beyond impermanence. Crowley even warns of the possibility of melancholic delirium setting in during the Zelator's death meditation reenactment of the Ritual of the passing of the Tuat in Liber AAA through the path of Shin.

What's wrong interesting is that the Zelator cannot return to "the world" at this point. He must go on and go in, he is trying to dismantle his attachments to "the world" which his prior Ruach-Nephesh is wound up and bound up in.

2.21 We have nothing with the outcast and the unfit: let them die in their misery. For they feel not. Compassion is the vice of kings: stamp down the wretched & the weak: this is the law of the strong: this is our law and the joy of the world.

gerry456 wrote:The aspirant's first meeting with the Pillar of Severity appears to be within the Zelator grade.

You mean this, I take it, in the sense that Paths are worked that reach left. You might consider that the Neophyte task already includes preliminary work with Liber HHH, which is assigned in relation to Shiyn (just as the Neophyte task includes divination, which is the task assigned to Qof).

What do the Zelator's rituals and work do to the aspirant and his relationship to his Ruach and Nephesh?/quote]That's a big, general question. Have you read the literature on this, e.g., the 2=9 chapter of my M&MAA? (Also, part of this answer is unique to each person.)

If we take the approach to Hod as being the first connection to pure transcendental spiritual Briatic consciousness then would I be correct in saying that there would be a general severe stirring up of the Ruach and it's attachments to the five-sensory bound Nephesh (see path of Shin connecting Guph/Assiah to Hod (pure mind))?

Your reference to "first connection to pure transcendental spiritual Briatic consciousness" is a bit inflated, but on the right track in this sense: Having opened oneself to Y'tziyrah in the progress from Neophyte to Zelator, the plateau at Y'sod does a couple of things. First, it stabilizes that transition - strengthens it and stabilizes the individual. Second, it starts the next leg of the Four World journey, which is building bridges between Y'tziyrah and B'riyah. This is mostly done in 3=8, 4=7, and Dom Lim, but there's a bit of it in 2=9. Many have found a spontaneous 4D consciousness open, and one can expect new levels of connection with the HGA (as Samekh works on one).

I don't know what you mean by "generally severe stirring up of the Ruach" etc. I suppose things can be interpreted that way, but I don't want to say yes or no without knowing what ideas you have attached to those words. One remains fundamentally a Ruach-Nefesh creation occupying a body (with at least more distinction of not being that body, from the work that made one a Zelator.

With regards to the path of Resh, is there also therefore a challenge or an attempt to purify and transmute the Ruach which up until then is stuck in or attached to Yetzirah i.e. it's own subconscious i.e the reactive Yesodic Nephesh?

The eventual awakening of the Ruach into Briatic consciousness that you describe occurs in the Dom Lim / Adeptus Minor range, although certainly early intimations are possible once one stabilizes in Y'sod. PS Y'tzirah is not "it's own subconsciousness;" that's a misleading idea.

Yes, the work at Y'sod certainly has to do with addressing reactivity, especially the deep, historic patterns of it. That's spelled out in the Task paper, though in more archaic language.

In other worlds this is the first realization that we are in effect transcendental to the outer world as we exist in the realm of the pure and infinite?

Surely not the first realization. One might wonder what one has been spending his or her first two grades doing if that were the case, On the other hand, it is hardly a submergence into "the pure and infinite." Above all, the initiate at Y'sod is aware of the nature of Change, and is living the fabric of the transient. Growing awareness of the distinction between the transient and the eternal is a gradual process for most folks.

gerry456 wrote:The aspirant's first meeting with the Pillar of Severity appears to be within the Zelator grade.

You mean this, I take it, in the sense that Paths are worked that reach left. You might consider that the Neophyte task already includes preliminary work with Liber HHH, which is assigned in relation to Shiyn (just as the Neophyte task includes divination, which is the task assigned to Qof).

What do the Zelator's rituals and work do to the aspirant and his relationship to his Ruach and Nephesh?/quote]That's a big, general question. Have you read the literature on this, e.g., the 2=9 chapter of my M&MAA? (Also, part of this answer is unique to each person.)

If we take the approach to Hod as being the first connection to pure transcendental spiritual Briatic consciousness then would I be correct in saying that there would be a general severe stirring up of the Ruach and it's attachments to the five-sensory bound Nephesh (see path of Shin connecting Guph/Assiah to Hod (pure mind))?

Your reference to "first connection to pure transcendental spiritual Briatic consciousness" is a bit inflated, but on the right track in this sense: Having opened oneself to Y'tziyrah in the progress from Neophyte to Zelator, the plateau at Y'sod does a couple of things. First, it stabilizes that transition - strengthens it and stabilizes the individual. Second, it starts the next leg of the Four World journey, which is building bridges between Y'tziyrah and B'riyah. This is mostly done in 3=8, 4=7, and Dom Lim, but there's a bit of it in 2=9. Many have found a spontaneous 4D consciousness open, and one can expect new levels of connection with the HGA (as Samekh works on one).

I don't know what you mean by "generally severe stirring up of the Ruach" etc. I suppose things can be interpreted that way, but I don't want to say yes or no without knowing what ideas you have attached to those words. One remains fundamentally a Ruach-Nefesh creation occupying a body (with at least more distinction of not being that body, from the work that made one a Zelator.

With regards to the path of Resh, is there also therefore a challenge or an attempt to purify and transmute the Ruach which up until then is stuck in or attached to Yetzirah i.e. it's own subconscious i.e the reactive Yesodic Nephesh?

The eventual awakening of the Ruach into Briatic consciousness that you describe occurs in the Dom Lim / Adeptus Minor range, although certainly early intimations are possible once one stabilizes in Y'sod. PS Y'tzirah is not "it's own subconsciousness;" that's a misleading idea.

Yes, the work at Y'sod certainly has to do with addressing reactivity, especially the deep, historic patterns of it. That's spelled out in the Task paper, though in more archaic language.

In other worlds this is the first realization that we are in effect transcendental to the outer world as we exist in the realm of the pure and infinite?

Surely not the first realization. One might wonder what one has been spending his or her first two grades doing if that were the case, On the other hand, it is hardly a submergence into "the pure and infinite." Above all, the initiate at Y'sod is aware of the nature of Change, and is living the fabric of the transient. Growing awareness of the distinction between the transient and the eternal is a gradual process for most folks.

What I mean by a "general severe stirring up of the Ruach" etc is the notion of pecking order/status anxieties as this is what the Ruach is, the me or self-image as it relates to society or the tribe or the pack.

2.19 They shall rejoice, our chosen: who sorroweth is not of us.

2.21 We have nothing with the outcast and the unfit: let them die in their misery. For they feel not. Compassion is the vice of kings: stamp down the wretched & the weak: this is the law of the strong: this is our law and the joy of the world.